ORLANDO, Fla. – The man convicted of killing his neighbor more than two decades ago was sentenced to death in an Orange County courtroom Tuesday.
A unanimous Orange County jury earlier this year recommended the death penalty for DeMorris Hunter, and a judge on Tuesday agreed with that recommendation.
Hunter, 59, strangled Theresa Green following a small gathering at her College Park home in 2002, then placed her body in the trunk of her car and left the vehicle in a Sanford parking lot, prosecutors said.
The two were neighbors at the time of the killing.
“I see no other punishment fitting for this defendant who ruthlessly took the life of Theresa Green,” said Bill Gladson, the State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit. “While imposing this sentence, the court said may God have mercy upon this defendant. While the Court has rendered justice under the law, the final judgement does rests with God - and may he levy an even greater punishment knowing the defendant denied every measure of mercy to his victim.”
Hunter was already serving a 110-year prison sentence in California for the murder of another woman in 2005 when he was extradited to Florida in 2015 following his indictment in Green’s death.
The case faced several setbacks, including delays tied to COVID-19 and a heart attack Hunter suffered.